Hello,

I'm new to MS forums so please forgive me if this is not the sort of question to ask. I'm just worn out trying to figure out how to save some money!! I have used MS comparison etc, but still cannot work out what to do.

Basically, at the moment I pay for the following each month:-                                                                                   Sky+(including sports) - £37                                                                                                                              Setanta (Sports) - £15                                                                                                                                              BT (Basic broadband & Option 3 phone) - £76.50 ( this is monthly payment to cover calls to mobiles etc which on the bill seem to be about £20 per month. I'm really not sure why the payment is so high, but I assume I have made calls not included in the package and built up a debit balance at some point in the past)

Totalling £128.50 per month.

So now my Questions -  

I have scoured the net looking to reduce this amount each month. We are happy with sky/setanta - hubby watches lots of rugby league and  I would really miss Sky One (Lost, simpsons, bones etc!) if we switched to virgin. I assume that we have to stay with sky for the TV? I haven't found anything comparable at a cheaper price, and don't know if virgin can run alongside setanta as sky does?

BT broadband has been fine for the last 2.5 years since joining, no problems at all, before that had NTL which was terrible.If we switched to virgin BB - would that be the same as old NTL? Also, having read terrible reviews about sky BB am not sure if this is what we want either. Or is it only unhappy customers who write reveiws with lots of happy subscribers staying quiet??

Also, is sky talk really cheaper than BT for calls not included in the talk unlimited package? ie mobiles, 0870's etc? I am just starting a business at home, so absolutely cannot afford to be without BB or landline for anything over 24 hours -  I make lots of phone calls both day and night, so all inclusive is a must for 01 &02 numbers, but can I reduce the price from BT option 3, and save on 'other' calls too?

I am getting stressed out and have spent far too many hours surfing the net for answers! I need the reliability, and it seems that I may have to pay BT premium prices for this - surely there must be other operators who can rival BT's service levels? Or is that just a pipe dream of mine??

Any answers, thoughts or experiences will be most welcome - I am pulling my hair out trying to figure it all out.Should I just be grateful that we currently receive good levels of service, and accept the cost?

Sarah

Hi Sarahk

Thanks for your email.

Wow that's a lot of stuff you've got there, unfortunately with such a specific request it's going to be very hard for me to give you a definitive answer. I can confirm that I can certainly suggest some product combinations that can save you money.

Let's look at what you need:

Sky TV (Including Sports)
Setanta Sport
Good reliable broadband deal / big download cap (to use for business)
Free UK landline calls
Cheaper Mobile calls

All in cheaper than £128.50 a mth.

If you send me your postcode I can advise you of the best deals - if you're not happy posting it in the forum email it to me at jason . lloyd @ moneysupermarket.com

Speak to you soon.

Cheers

Jason

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Jason Lloyd
moneysupermarket.com
0800 298 5770

" We're here to help you find the best deal and avoid the pitfalls through sharing knowledge and experiences."

Hi Jason,

I thought it was a big ask - hence why am stressed out looking! If there is anything you can recomend Iwould be grateful - my postcode is LS5 3QU.

Sarah

Hi Sarah

Ok I think the following combinations are worth considering:

Option 1: All Sky - in effect you get Sky to do everything for you for £52.00 a mth (£11 mth line rental), this includes:

Sky Max - 16Mb / Unlimited Broadband
Sky TV 6 mixes and Sky Sports
Sky Talk - Unlimited UK landline calls (plus mobile calls 25% lower cost than BT)
Free wireless router

Setanta on top £15 a mth - bringing the total monthly cost to £78 a mth (incl mth line rental) and call charges outside of free UK landline calls.

Pros - All fits together nicely so easier to manage, very good value for money and you get all you need.
Cons - Potential customer service issues but they are improving - it's a risk you'd have to take but generally speaking if you're a higher paying customer I'm sure they'll try to make sure this works for you.

Option 2: If you are a Vodafone Mobile Contract customer you might want to consider combining Sky / Setanta with Vodafone at Home.
The benefit of Vodafone at Home is the quality of service, free customer/technical support plus no line rental fees - you also get free UK landline calls and 25% off mobile phone calls too. Pay extra £49.99 for wireless router.

Full cost is Sky package and Setanta £52 a month / Vodafone at Home £24 a mth - total cost £76 a mth and call charges.

Pros - Great customer service, cheap mobile phone calls and no line rental
Cons - 18 month contract for V AT Home, offer only applies if you're a Vodafone mobile contract customer

Option 3: If you're not a Vodafone mobile customer you may want to consider Direct Save Telecom Option 4 plus Sky and Setanta instead.

This package is basically the same as Vodafone at Home in that you get up to 8mb/unlimited broadband, free UK landline calls, but 12% off mobile phone calls. Also you have to pay line rental as well.

Full cost is Sky and Setanta £52 a mth, Direct Save Telecom Option 4 £16.95 a mth, line rental £10.45 a mth - total cost £79.40 a mth plus call charges.

Pros - Gives you much more flexiblity, no minimum contract period, fairly good customer service
Cons - Discount lower on mobile calls but don't have to be a Vodafone customer.

I hope this helps?

Cheers

Jason

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Jason Lloyd
moneysupermarket.com
0800 298 5770

" We're here to help you find the best deal and avoid the pitfalls through sharing knowledge and experiences."

Jason,

Thank you, thats brilliant. I actually have a vodafone pre-pay, but might consider going contracted, I didn't even know about this despite my research. Then again I might take a gamble on being a high priority sky customer - I'll have to have a think about it!

Thanks again for your help, its much appreciated.

Sarah

No problem, I would probably lean towards Vodafone at Home but Sky is always a good back up option.

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Jason Lloyd
moneysupermarket.com
0800 298 5770

" We're here to help you find the best deal and avoid the pitfalls through sharing knowledge and experiences."

I had (up until recently) a fairly similar situation with bits and bobs all over.

I now have Virgin Media's VIP (Very Impressive Package) which gets you:

20Mb Broadband with unlimited downloads.

Free calls to all 01 and 02 numbers all teh time

V+ (their version of sky+) with setanta (1 and 2, golf rangers tv, celtic tv etc etc), all sky sports, sky movies. The only notable absence, as you say, is Sky One but with 20 meg b/band what I do is download or stream things like Lost etc. The box is also HD ready if you have an HD telly.

A second normal virgin TV box for another room.

The list goes on - Check out their site and search VIP. I paid a £25 install fee and it was all installed inside about 2 hours. I know there is a lot of negativity about Virgin on these forums but I've never had any problems. I get roughly the BB speed I'm supposed to and the TV package is really good.

The package is £85 per month by the way.

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Squeeze my lemon till the juice runs down my leg!

I have my home phone calls with BT on an any time unlimited call tariff. I also have broadband with BT. Sky separately including sport and it all costs about £100 a month - hope this helps!

I find it really insulting that new Sky customers get broadband and landline phone included for the same price as existing loyal customers pay for their TV subscription. Is it worth giving them a call and doing a little feet stamping to see if they can do a better deal?

In short, it is always worth talking to them.

I had a similar situation with Virgin Media when they were offering their two for £20 a month bundle to new customers, whilst I was paying £29 for the same thing. I rang up and politely explained that I was unhappy with being discriminated against for being an existing customer. The person who took the call immediately told me he was transferring me to someone in customer relations who would be able to sort this out. Again I politely and firmly restated my views and I was switched to the £20 a month bundle so long as I agreed to another minimum 12 month contract with them. as this is what new customers had to sign up for I was perfectly happy with this. So I got a 31% reduction for the sake of a five minute phone call. I didn't even have to bring out the threat of switching to TalkTalk whose bundle was a bit lower that Virgins.

All I would say is be polite but firm. If the person you are talking to seems to be unable to do what you want, state clearly that 'this level of customer service is unsatisfactory' and ask to speak to some one who is capable of authorising what you want.

Good luck!